


Moon Base Delta Six

by ClockworkDinosaur (orphan_account)



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Gen, The Vice Quadrant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 22:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6445366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ClockworkDinosaur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They never stood a chance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moon Base Delta Six

**Author's Note:**

> Vice Quadrant is amazing and I never expected I’d get so many emotions from an album about fun, goofy automatons in space but I cried when I heard “Oh No” for the first time so…
> 
> (An older fic originally posted on Tumblr by me: http://officialnukacola.tumblr.com/post/128853550441/moon-base-delta-six )

The scientist stared out the window on the moon base. Her eyes traced the stars, naming each one in her head as she stared out at the infinite universe outside of her office.

“Doctor Wise?” said a timid voice behind her suddenly, causing the woman to jump and turn quickly. The young intern looked at the older woman apologetically. “Sorry! But, uh, Doctor James has detected an anomaly.”

“What sort of anomaly?”

“I’ll let him tell you.” the intern said.

With one last wistful look out the window at the glittering stars, Doctor Wise adjusted her lab coat and followed the intern out of the office.

* * *

The base blanketed the moon like moss over the ground in front of them. Cosmica looked at her astronaut, her usually unreadable face twisted into a look of confusion. He only stared intently at the base sprawled out beneath them, eyes and fists pulsing red and purple.

After a moment, he glanced at her, eyes bright with an emotion she couldn’t read. He tilted his head and shoots forward, red light trailing like a bloody gash through space.

A moment later, she followed.

* * *

“You’re kidding.” Wise breathed, as the external video feeds showed the two humanoid forms hover near the base. “This is impossible.” she said, her heart beating madly in her chest as she shook her head.

Doctor James looked the older woman solemnly. “They seem to be organic, as well. They’re not robots… but they aren’t human. At least not fully. And you won’t believe the DNA read on one of them…” he said, as he swiped a hand across the screen, bringing up the profile of a long-dead astronaut.

“H-he went missing years ago!” Wise muttered, running her hand through her short, curly hair. 

“They’re moving!” the intern cried suddenly, pointing at the screen. Doctor James quickly put the video on full screen with a flick of his wrist. Two streaks of light, one deep red and the other the palest, brightest purple, headed at the base, almost faster than their eyes and cameras could follow.

“I believe they’re headed this way…” James said, just before the video feed cut off in a burst of red light.

* * *

The astronaut grinned as the cameras exploded, one by one. Cosmica watched, hair rippling around her as she watched the small flames wink in and out of existence. As the fires stopped, she grabbed his hand.

 _Why?_ she communicated through his skin.

He turned to her, placing his hand gently on her face, the warmth of the sun radiating through her translucent skin. She closed her eyes, leaning her face into his hand.

But he said nothing before turning and skimming over the top of the base. Without a glance back, he raised his fist and brought it down on the building, cracks appearing in the roof as he grinned.

* * *

“We have to ready the weapons now!” Doctor James screamed into his phone as the sirens blared incessantly. Wise stared out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of the creatures as they tore apart the base. The other doctor slammed his phone down with disgust.

“The weapons are ready.” James said, though he didn’t sound reassured.

“What do they want?” the intern sobbed.

Only the screaming sirens replied.

* * *

He didn’t see the first missile as it sped toward him. He barely felt it, either. But the effect on Cosmica was immediate. Her hair whipped around the two like a shield, blocking the other three missiles as they headed for her astronaut. With a silent scream that bared her jagged, crystalline teeth, she slashed at the roof, tearing open the building and pulling her astronaut with her as the bombs exploded against the jagged hole.

* * *

“They’re in the base.” Wise said dully, as the intern screamed against the remotely barricaded door, her fists bruised as they crashed against the unyielding metal. Doctor James slumped at his desk, staring blankly at the breech emergency warning flashing across every screen in the room.

Aside from the sobs, the room was hopelessly silent.

* * *

Cosmica tore through the metal walls of the base, keeping her astronaut close to her chest. She didn’t notice the scientists and doctors that were pulled through the jagged holes she left, the air escaping into space as she ripped through the base. 

After a few minutes of reckless fleeing, she stopped. The artificial gravity in the base had stopped working, and the astronaut watched as the remaining bodies floated listlessly in the laboratory where they stopped.

Cosmica desperately placed her hands on her astronaut’s face, staring into his eyes. 

 _Hurt? They hurt you?!_ she screamed in his head. He shook his head, eyes wild.

 _Keep going,_ he encouraged.

 _Leaving!_ she said with a shake of her head, hair still moving quickly, shredding through the walls of the room. After a moments hesitation, he nodded.

Cosmica linked arms with her astronaut and tore through the ceiling above them, the stars shining through the darkness as they left the building bleeding air into the void of space.

* * *

Doctor Wise watched the two streaks of light flee. “They’re gone.” she said, her eyes wild as she stared out the window.

“Damn lot of good that does us.” Doctor James says listlessly as he stared at the black screens. “We’re the only living things left tin the entire base,” he almost laughs, “and the place is leaking air faster than a popped balloon.”

The intern doesn’t react, her arms wrapped around her legs as tears leaked from her squeezed-shut eyes.

Doctor Wise only stared out the window. Subconsciously, she mentally traced the stars, naming them until she couldn’t think anymore beyond the screaming of her empty lungs.


End file.
